Score went down almost 50 points due to disputing comments on my credit report

Score went down almost 50 points due to disputing comments on my credit report

I am currently in the process of buying a home. Several months ago I had disputed some items on my report. Although the investigation was completed they added in the comment section of each account that it was disputed by the consumer. So I had called Equifax to have the comments removed and that was yesterday. Now today I noticed my score drop from 652 to 607. One of the accounts that the comment was on and needed to be removed was a car loan with a great pay history. I called Equifax and they told me that during the dispute process your accounts are like ghost accounts. Meaning that my score is being calculated as if the account never existed. So I was wondering if my score will go back up?

Re: Dispute score dropped from 670 to 628 **SUCCESS**

spencerfamlyof5 wrote:

I to am going through the same problem. I am currently in the process of buying a home. Several months ago I had disputed some items on my report. Although the investigation was completed they added in the comment section of each account that it was disputed by the consumer. So I had called Equifax to have the comments removed and that was yesterday. Now today I noticed my score drop from 652 to 607. One of the accounts that the comment was on and needed to be removed was a car loan with a great pay history. I called Equifax and they told me that during the dispute process your accounts are like ghost accounts. Meaning that my score is being calculated as if the account never existed. So I was wondering if my score will go back up?

Sorry that happened.

The EQ CSR you talked to is partly wrong. Per FICO scoring, all collection agencies and public records (e.g. BKs, liens, judgments) are fully scored during a dispute. Original creditors (OCs) like a credit card, a loan, a charge-off of any type, etc., are partially scored during a dispute, but not fully. FICO will only ignore the balance, the credit limit (if a CC) and will also ignore the payment history of OC accounts during a dispute. Other aspects of the account like the contribution to your mix of credit, length of history, impact to your average age, etc., are fully scored during a dispute.

So for example, if you have a charged-off CC with a balance over the reported credit limit with multiples of lates, and you dispute it, you could very well see a significant FICO increase because FICO is ignoring the items of the account that are hurting the most. Once the comment goes away and is verified by the credit reporting agencies, then FICO will fully score everything and the score drop back to where it was before, if not worse due to the update.

Re: Score went down almost 50 points due to disputing comments on my credit report

spencerfamlyof5 wrote:So what you are saying is that Fico is not taking into account of my good pay history for the auto loan. Is this why my score dropped?

No...FICO pretty much ignores the "OKs" on your CR, and only looks at the negatives. If I read your post right, your FICO dropped when the dispute comments cleared, right? The drop would be because FICO is scoring the negative history, once again, whereas it didn't before when the dispute comments were showing. In other words, the dispute artificially propped up your score. FHA-based lenders and others do require dispute comments to be removed for that reason.

ETA...BTW, there are steps you can take if you have time to get some of the lates removed, via help of the lender.

Re: Score went down almost 50 points due to disputing comments on my credit report

My account never showed late. I had played it on time during the 5yrs and it did show it. The dispute comment was made by the finance company stating that I had disputed a error at one time or another. So I had contacted Equifax to have the comments removed. That was yesterday

Re: Score went down almost 50 points due to disputing comments on my credit report

Would that service happen to be Credit Complete?

Equifax.com does offer FICO scores, but they also sell their own score called an "Equifax Credit Score". This FAKO isn't used by any lenders and is available on most of their product offerings including "Equifax Complete", single reports w/ scores, etc. Make sure any score you are looking at has the word "FICO" next to it. The only product offered that monitors and continually reports your FICO is their version of ScoreWatch called "Score Watch". If you are looking at their FICO just know that if your FAKO decreases by 50 points it definitely won't mean your FICO would have done the same. I used their FAKO before just to compare with FICO and many times my FICO would increase and the FAKO decrease for the same event. Definitely worth ignoring especially since lenders won't use it.

If you have Score Watch through Equifax.com, then you would be alerted to a FICO change. I have have never used their version of ScoreWatch, but assuming it's the same you cannot assume that an account change produced the 50 point drop. For example, I once got a SW alert for +20 because I added an inquiry. An inquiry doesn't increase your FICO but it was a baddie dropping that SW doesn't alert to that resulted in the FICO increase. In other words, if you have their SW product, and you got an alert for -50 due to a cleared dispute, then there could very well be other changes to your CR that resulted in the drop, like missing accounts, dropped accounts, other accounts in dispute, etc.

Re: Score went down almost 50 points due to disputing comments on my credit report

Then the latter paragraph would apply. If you receive a SW alert for any score change, that alert doesn't necessarily mean that the change resulted in those 50 points lost; it only shows a net score change and it's very easy to incorrectly associate that X change equals Y point change. I'd definitely pull EQ from somewhere. Look for obvious changes like added accounts, missing accounts, updated accounts or baddies, etc. You mentioned that you disputed comments (plural). Make sure nothing deleted as removing old accounts can lead to significant score hits. Also look for any other changes like balance changes, etc.

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Equifax Credit Report is a trademark of Equifax, Inc. and its affiliated companies.
Many factors affect your FICO Scores and the interest rates you may receive. Fair Isaac is not a credit repair organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Fair Isaac does not provide "credit repair" services or advice or assistance regarding "rebuilding" or "improving" your credit record, credit history or credit rating.
FTC's website on credit.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: All FICO® Score products made available on myFICO.com include a FICO® Score 8, along with additional FICO® Score versions. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO® Score than the versions you receive from myFICO, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more

FICO, myFICO, Score Watch, The score lenders use, and The Score That Matters are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation. Equifax Credit Report is a trademark of Equifax, Inc. and its affiliated companies. Many factors affect your FICO Score and the interest rates you may receive. Fair Isaac is not a credit repair organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Fair Isaac does not provide "credit repair" services or advice or assistance regarding "rebuilding" or "improving" your credit record, credit history or credit rating. FTC's website on credit.